Lindsey Graham: If I Can Support Ted Cruz, ‘Anybody Can Do It’

Friday on “CBS This Morning,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a former candidate for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, explained why he is now supporting Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for president despite having criticized him in the past.

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When asked how he would rally around Cruz, Graham said, “If I can do it, anybody can do it.”

“Ted Cruz is Republican,” Graham continued. “He’s smart as hell. He’s run a very effective campaign. And we have a lot in common, but we also have some real differences. He is a real Republican from the more ideological spectrum than I am but he would not destroy our party.”

Graham to was asked if he thought Cruz could defeat Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, to which Graham replied, “Yes sir.”

He added that the other options, current GOP front-runner Donald Trump or a candidate not on the ballot like House Speaker Paul Ryan, would “destroy” the Republican Party.

“I’m trying to get us the most viable nominee for 2016 without destroying the party,” he added. “I think Trump destroys the party and if you parachute somebody in and try to ignore millions of votes, you’re going to destroy this party. So we go right back to Ted.”